He stopped breathing. "Whose father?"
"Giselle's."
The phone and the gun slipped out of his hands and fell on the floor with thuds. Xavier dropped to his knees beside the man he was supposed to meet that day.
What had he done?
His head started pounding, his vision blurring. He felt blank. There was deafening noise in his head but he couldn't make sense of anything. And then the realization hit him like a bullet; he'd killed Giselle's father. How could anything go back to normal after this?
He could bury the body and never let her know, but she'd know eventually.
Maybe he could tell her the truth—she'd understand. But what if she left him? Could he afford to lose her? No.
Maybe he'd tell her that her father was killed by someone else.
But what if she found out?
It wasn't my fault, he wanted to scream.Sean tricked me!He felt nauseated. His body shook.
With trembling hands, he quickly grabbed the man's phone and wiped off his fingerprints with his sleeve.
The shock made way for anger to settle in. He gritted his teeth, got up, and ran. Sean had asked for it.
His feet ached but didn't stop running through the lane, past the gate, the gang members a blur on the sidelines, and into the den. Xavier's blood boiled with rage inside his veins.
Entering the house, Xavier caught a glimpse of Sean's bald head. With five long strides, he pointed his gun at Sean's skull and grabbed his collar in his other hand.
"You son of a bitch!" His voice echoed, his whole body shaking.
Sean smiled, then placed his hand on Xavier's chest. With one swift motion, he had Xavier face-down on the floor with his arm behind his back in which he held the gun.
Sean said, "Father used to say—" Xavier spat on the floor beside him. "—that you should never trust three kinds of people," he continued, his tone amused, "the ex-lover of your wife, the person who did you a favor, and someone you've once ruined."
Xavier struggled, trying to get Sean off of him, who snatched the gun from his grip and got up. Xavier followed. He clutched Sean's collar in his right hand again, uncaring of how easy to kill he was at the moment. Sean smiled mockingly as if he, indeed, was no threat to him at all.
"So, which one are you?" he asked, his eyes burning.
"He's the wife," muttered Ashley jokingly, obviously enjoying what transpired, but no one paid her any attention.
Sean slowly clutched Xavier's collar as well, his smile fading as he said, "Don't you remember Sasha?"
He stumbled back a few steps as Xavier shoved him.
"Sasha was like a sister to me!" he said. "I never wanted her to die! It wasn't my fault she came between me and my target. I was just practicing! I was new! She should've known better."
"You couldn't have stopped! You couldn't have saved her?" he roared.
"She was dead before I knew."
Sean, as if hit in the guts, pointed the gun at Xavier, losing all his cool. Xavier crouched down and hit him on the knees with his head. Sean lost his balance and fell. The gun flew out of his hand onto the floor. Xavier scrambled to grab it, got up, and pointed it back at Sean who looked at him with panic in his eyes. Nobody dared to make a move.
Sean got up, dusted off his pocket-less, checked shirt, and looked at him. He managed a smile. "Xavier, Xavier, Xavier. Father used to say—"
"Shut up!" he bellowed.
The world quietened. The silence had its own sound. Sean stared at him in shock.
"Shut the fuck up!" Xavier's hand trembled.